By Korede Abdullah
I read a post about the dilemma of choosing who is the better performer between the two famous Juju musical maestros, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade on Ẹ̀gbọ́n Tayo Ikotun’s wall. I agree absolutely with him that it’s a huge task picking one and dismissing the other.
In actual fact, both of them have given blissful joy and delighted felicity to their fans in the course of their life’s journey as singers that have spanned nearly sixty years in their musical career. Their mellifluous voices are eerily soothing to the souls and hypnotizing. Their uncanny wizardry on the guitar is equally mesmerizing. Both of them have brought honour, fame and glory to themselves and to their father land through their musical performances both at home and on the global stage garnering accolades.
One wonderful fact about King Sunny Ade that has continued to wow me is his continuous relevance even at his advanced age. His looking youthful and rejuvenated is as constant as the northern star. At 77, he is still debonair, suave and charming like a man of 40’s.
The Juju King also still amazingly performs wonders on the stage and dances passionately like corks upon the waves. His slender and trim physique has been a boon for his wonderous agility.
Be that as it may, my unquenchable overriding love for Ebenezer Obey is more deep-rooted and inexplicable. Anytime I hear his sonorous voice, and that of his back-up singers along with his musical ensemble, my sullen soul gets lifted and I feel orgasmic like I am in the cloud nine. It will be superfluous for me to reel out what has made Chief Commander exceptional. As the lawyers say: “Res ipsa loquitur” (the facts speak for themselves).
When I love an iconic personality, I dig into his life’s odyssey. That is what I have done about Obey, having read many things about him and his band since his early days in the 1960’s to the time his musical career was eclipsed in the early 1990’s. Finally, both Sunny Ade and Obey have carved a niche for themselves in the consciousness of their fans, but I will forever have my undying love for Baba Commander till the sun grows cold.
Korede Abdullah is a lawyer, writer and public affairs analyst